UPDATE: 11:45AM – Kumi has been arrested and is being taken to Greenland in a helicopter.

As he climbed the 30 metre ladder rig operators tried to stop him making it to the platform by dousing him with a freezing jet of water fired from a powerful water cannon.

But, despite being soaked to the skin and freezing cold, Kumi made it to the top to deliver the 50,000 strong petition and demand that Cairn immediately halt drilling operations and leave the Arctic.

In a final radio transmission to the Esperanza he said:

“It looks like I’m being arrested now. They say I’m going to be taken to Greenland, but what happens after that I don’t know. I did this because Arctic oil drilling is one of the defining environmental battles of our age. I’m an African but I care deeply about what’s happening up here. The rapidly melting cap of Arctic sea ice is a grave warning to all of us, so it’s nothing short of madness that companies like Cairn see it as a chance to drill for the fossil fuels that got us into this climate change mess in the first place. We have to draw a line and say no more. I’m drawing that line here and now in the Arctic ice.”

06:30 am - Kumi Naidoo, the Executive Director of Greenpeace International has crossed into an exclusion zone and scaled a controversial Arctic oil rig 120km off the coast of Greenland.

At 6:45 am this morning an inflatable speedboat carrying Kumi was launched from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. It evaded a Danish navy warship that has been circling the rig for several weeks and delivered Kumi to the base of the rig where he climbed 30 metres up the outside of one of the platform's giant legs.

Before leaving the Esperanza he told us why he was doing it:

After a freezing dash out from the coast of Greenland in a small boat to meet the Esperanza, I'm now preparing to leave again at first light to board the Cairn oil rig Leiv Eiriksson.

With one companion I'll follow in the footsteps of the twenty Greenpeace activists who've gone before me in the past two weeks. Together they prevented Cairn's reckless deep sea oil drilling here in the Arctic for a total of five days.

Most of them spent almost two weeks in jail and have been deported for their trouble.

Cairn's response was an attempt to silence peaceful protest with a massive lawsuit against Greenpeace International. In it they demanded we pay 2 million euro for each day our action prevented their oil drilling operation. But, despite a small army of expensive lawyers, it didn't go Cairn's way in court. The judge awarded them far less than they asked for and even questioned why Cairn didn't publish its oil spill response plan as we asked.

What's a spill response plan? It's the document that an oil company has to draw up explaining how it would clean up a spill. They are nearly always made public, but Cairn is keeping its one secret. Why? Because you can't clean up an Arctic oil spill, that's what the experts say, and publishing the plan would show that Cairn hasn't got a viable plan.

We have made repeated requests for Cairn's oil spill plan, including phone calls, faxes, emails, a visit to the company's UK headquarters and finally our delegation of 18 boarding the rig. Cairn claims the Greenland authorities won't allow it to publish the spill plan, but Greenpeace has legal advice making it clear that Cairn could easily publish the plan if it wanted to. It's standard industry practice.

Cairn is keeping the plan secret because it knows it is not worth the paper it is written on. Cairn is hiding it from the people of Greenland whose real economy depends on fisheries and a clean environment. It is hiding it from Greenpeace because it knows it cannot clean up a spill. It is hiding it from its investors who, if they knew the full extent of the risks, would think twice about investing.

In the final hearing the court did stipulate that Greenpeace is liable for 50,000 euro for each further day we interfere with Cairn's drilling. It's far less than Cairn asked for, but still a significant sum.

I have with me the names of 50,000 people who emailed Cairn to demand they publish their spill response plan. I am about to go aboard the rig to deliver those 50,000 names with a personal call that Cairn leaves the Arctic.

For me this is one of the defining environmental battles of our age, it's a fight for sanity against the madness of those who see the disappearance of the Arctic sea ice as an opportunity to profit. As the ice retreats the oil companies want to send the rigs in and drill for the fossil fuels that got us into this mess in the first place.

Fossil fuel driven climate change is already making life hard for millions. I have seen this first hand where I come from in Africa and it will only get worse unless we can phase out our addiction to oil.

We have to draw a line somewhere and I say we draw that line here today.

The Arctic oil rush is such a serious threat to the climate, to this beautiful fragile place and to our hopes for a better future that I felt we had no choice. So I volunteered to come to the rig and make a personal appeal backed by Greenpeace supporters everywhere to call for an end to this dangerous arctic oil drilling.

Cairn has something to hide, they won't dare publish their plan to clean up an oil spill here in the Arctic, and that's because it can't be done. I'm going onto that rig to give them the names of fifty thousand people who've emailed them to demand they publish their plan, and I won't leave until I have it in my hands.

Greenpeace’s executive Director Kumi Naidoo is braving waters not quite in the Arctic to highlight problems effecting subscriptions. He is taking direct action to plead with the people of the world to send Greenpeace more money. He hopes, by his brave and fearless example, that previous mistakes that we made with our campaign there will be forgotten by the world’s press.

Kumi spoke to us before leaving the Esperanza to explain further:

The freezing weather won’t stop us. The facts won’t stop us. And neither will a court order. Our aim is to gain as much attention as we can. Our last mission to disrupt the evil oil drillers ended in embarrassment when it was pointed out that it was actually the Greenlanders who wanted the plan secret, and not Cairn as we originally thought [1]. This time we’ll side-step this issue by suggesting that Cairn should ignore the rules in force and give us the plan. This has the advantage that we know they won’t so we can string this out for a long time.

Some say that we shouldn’t use diesel to power our 5000HP boats and that by doing so we support oil drilling. I say get a life! These people are stupid spoilsports. For example; I don’t want to consider the appalling conditions of the abattoirs of McDonalds when I’m enjoying my Big Mac. Why should we think where the oil comes from for our ships? It’s a petty small minded attitude. This issue isn’t about oil. Well, it is, but our not our oil. It’s about your oil. Your oil that causes climate change, not ours that doesn’t. And it’s about the press release. And the subscribers. Please subscribe guys! We’ve got to cover out £100M admin fees every year after all.

Yeah, yeah. So Nuuk isn’t actually in the Arctic. But “Arctic 18“ has such a good ring to it. It is within a few hundred kilometres and it’s pretty cold too. I’m being really brave out here. Much braver that the oil rig workers who work out here every day of the week. Do they have to write press releases? No Sir. Neither do the those poor exploited Greenland fishermen. I’m sure that all of Greenland is with us, except obviously the population [2] who hates us.

I’m hoping to see an iceberg. Strange but there doesn’t seem to be any about. If we don’t see one (apparently they very rarely come round here anyway) then we’ll have to photoshop one in our next picture. There’s no pack ice either! What’s going on? Bloody typical. It would make a great photo. I wonder why if that’s why Nuuk has always been the main port in Greenland, because it doesn’t freeze over even in the winter? But we won’t let the lack of ice stop us painting a picture of an ice-bound wilderness in out press-releases. You have my word on that.

I also promise our subscribers that we will kick up a fuss until we see the Oil Spill Plan. We won’t be defeated by the fact that most of the spill plan is already available on the internet [3]. We will shut our eyes when we turn on the computer, so that we don’t see it! That way, we won’t be lying. It is, I’m sure you’ll agree, a brilliant plan. We even got a legal opinion saying that, if Cairn wanted to, they could break the rules put in place by the Greenlanders, and release the remainder of the plan. It is a genius plan, dear subscribers. They are stuck both ways. If they release it, they break the rules in Greenland. If they don’t we get extra publicity. God I’m good. And brave. Did I tell you I’m brave? Please subscribe. It’s freezing. I can’t wait to get back to the diesel powered heating on board the Esperanza.

Now that we’ve got Cairn in this position, they are a PR goldmine. Every day they don’t release the plan (that they can’t release) we gain more publicity and more subscribers. Thank you Cairn! Thank you oil!

One thing we don’t want to do is to highlight any of the studies that show oil burns better in cold water aiding any clean up. No we will rely on one line of an email from a Government official who was quoting another NGO (probably us! :-D). We will also make sure we make misleading comparisons to Deep Water Horizon (thank you BP. Millions of subscribers. Kerching!), and also to the Exxon Valdez. We’ll highlight the fact that the Exxon Valdez was a terrible accident, but not that they couldn’t burn the oil because it was on the coast. That’s what PR is all about: Highlighting what you want, but not what you don’t. ;-)

Ok, we know that Cairn have a legal right to drill. We know that the plan they had was acceptable to the relevant authorities. We know that Greenland has over all control of any incident. We know we are asking entirely the wrong people for the plan. But this is not the point, which is none of those things make a good press release or photo. Nor do they make me look brave. I am very brave. £100M a year, come on guys, cough up.

I’m selflessly not going to leave the rig until I have the spill plan in my hands. Or until I’m arrested. Or I get cold. Whichever come soonest. Please subscribe, and help us fight Arctic destruction by contributing to our £100M a year expenses.
[ENDS]

Greenpeace’s executive Director Kumi Naidoo is braving waters not quite in the Arctic to highlight problems effecting subscriptions. He is taking direct action to plead with the people of the world to send Greenpeace more money. He hopes, by his brave and fearless example, that previous mistakes that we made with our campaign there will be forgotten by the world’s press.

Kumi spoke to us before leaving the Esperanza to explain further:

The freezing weather won’t stop us. The facts won’t stop us. And neither will a court order. Our aim is to gain as much attention as we can. Our last mission to disrupt the evil oil drillers ended in embarrassment when it was pointed out that it was actually the Greenlanders who wanted the plan secret, and not Cairn as we originally thought. This time we’ll side-step this issue by suggesting that Cairn should ignore the rules in force and give us the plan. This has the advantage that we know they won’t so we can string this out for a long time.

Some say that we shouldn’t use diesel to power our 5000HP boats and that by doing so we support oil drilling. I say get a life! These people are stupid spoilsports. For example; I don’t want to consider the appalling conditions of the abattoirs of McDonalds when I’m enjoying my Big Mac. Why should we think where the oil comes from for our ships? It’s a petty small minded attitude. This issue isn’t about oil. Well, it is, but our not our oil. It’s about your oil. Your oil that causes climate change, not ours that doesn’t. And it’s about the press release. And the subscribers. Please subscribe guys! We’ve got to cover out £100M admin fees every year after all.

Yeah, yeah. So Nuuk isn’t actually in the Arctic. But “Arctic 18“ has such a good ring to it. It is within a few hundred kilometres and it’s pretty cold too. I’m being really brave out here. Much braver that the oil rig workers who work out here every day of the week. Do they have to write press releases? No Sir. Neither do the those poor exploited Greenland fishermen. I’m sure that all of Greenland is with us, except obviously the population [2] who hates us.

I’m hoping to see an iceberg. Strange but there doesn’t seem to be any about. If we don’t see one (apparently they very rarely come round here anyway) then we’ll have to photoshop one in our next picture. There’s no pack ice either! What’s going on? Bloody typical. It would make a great photo. I wonder why if that’s why Nuuk has always been the main port in Greenland, because it doesn’t freeze over even in the winter? But we won’t let the lack of ice stop us painting a picture of an ice-bound wilderness in out press-releases. You have my word on that.

I also promise our subscribers that we will kick up a fuss until we see the Oil Spill Plan. We won’t be defeated by the fact that most of the spill plan is already available on the internet [3]. We will shut our eyes when we turn on the computer, so that we don’t see it! That way, we won’t be lying. It is, I’m sure you’ll agree, a brilliant plan. We even got a legal opinion saying that, if Cairn wanted to, they could break the rules put in place by the Greenlanders, and release the remainder of the plan. It is a genius plan, dear subscribers. They are stuck both ways. If they release it, they break the rules in Greenland. If they don’t we get extra publicity. God I’m good. And brave. Did I tell you I’m brave? Please subscribe. It’s freezing. I can’t wait to get back to the diesel powered heating on board the Esperanza.

Now that we’ve got Cairn in this position, they are a PR goldmine. Every day they don’t release the plan (that they can’t release) we gain more publicity and more subscribers. Thank you Cairn! Thank you oil!

One thing we don’t want to do is to highlight any of the studies that show oil burns better in cold water aiding any clean up. No we will rely on one line of an email from a Government official who was quoting another NGO (probably us! :-D). We will also make sure we make misleading comparisons to Deep Water Horizon (thank you BP. Millions of subscribers. Kerching!), and also to the Exxon Valdez. We’ll highlight the fact that the Exxon Valdez was a terrible accident, but not that they couldn’t burn the oil because it was on the coast. That’s what PR is all about: Highlighting what you want, but not what you don’t. ;-)

Ok, we know that Cairn have a legal right to drill. We know that the plan they had was acceptable to the relevant authorities. We know that Greenland has over all control of any incident. We know we are asking entirely the wrong people for the plan. But this is not the point, which is none of those things make a good press release or photo. Nor do they make me look brave. I am very brave. £100M a year, come on guys, cough up.

I’m selflessly not going to leave the rig until I have the spill plan in my hands. Or until I’m arrested. Or I get cold. Whichever come soonest. Please subscribe, and help us fight Arctic destruction by contributing to our £100M a year expenses.
[ENDS]

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Nick
says:

@knud Seblon - Just to be clear, when Kumi says "As the ice retreats the oil companies want to send the rigs in and drill for the fossil fuels th...

@knud Seblon - Just to be clear, when Kumi says "As the ice retreats the oil companies want to send the rigs in and drill for the fossil fuels that got us into this mess in the first place... " he is taking a wider view than just the Cairn oil rig on which he stood today.

That particular location wasn't covered by sea ice any time recently - but the point we're making is that in the Arctic circle as a whole, the retreating ice is making many areas in the Arctic circle easier to access for drilling, thus spurring the oil rush.

This is not just about Cairn or about oil drilling in Greenlandic waters - far from it - this is a much wider issue that involves all the Arctic nations.

Similarly, the global warming that is increasing the rate of ice melt, is also increasing the number of icebergs produced from melting glaciers. These travelling icebergs are one of the many reasons that drilling here in the Davis Straight is too risky.

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(Unregistered) Listennow
says:

"West greenland is ice-free all year around."
Ah, not sure 'bout that. If you look at a map, you'll see that only counts for the south...

"West greenland is ice-free all year around."
Ah, not sure 'bout that. If you look at a map, you'll see that only counts for the south-west part of Greenland, which is a tiny bit of land. Besides, ice can easily travel from other areas to the western ocean.

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(Unregistered) lollipop70
says:

I live in a small village on the west coast of India - and we are seeing battles fought by villagers and town dwellers alike - protesting the endless and blatant plunder of scarce natural resources across not just India - but the world. They are driven by one motive above all - PROFIT at all costs.

Kumi and the teams who are up there -we stand with you and want to say our thoughts and good wishes are with you - And to all the nay sayers whose comments we are reading - hope you will wake up one day soon and realise what message these committed people are sending out........

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(Unregistered) E.C.D.
says:

In response to Crushtopher:

Greenpeace activists have prevented Cairn from drilling for days now and as a result Cairn filed a legal summ...

In response to Crushtopher:

Greenpeace activists have prevented Cairn from drilling for days now and as a result Cairn filed a legal summons against Greenpeace, demanding 2 million euros/day that they are unable to drill.

At the summons, the judge demanded Greenpeace pay a sum but far less than the 2m euros and was quoted saying,

"…it must be conceded to Greenpeace that the oil disaster which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico showed the great risk of drilling at great depths. Capricorn (the Cairn front company bringing the case) has not disputed that if a similar scenario would develop on the drilling locations at issue, it would be very difficult due to the climactic circumstances in the area, which permit navigation for only a few months a year due to the formation of ice, to stem an oil spill. "
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/what-the-judge-said/blog/35230

Not all oil spills are equal both in scope and in clean up processes. The arctic is an especially fragile ecosystem and it is particularly difficult to navigate. Containing an oil spill is NOT the same globally and after the BP disaster, I'm surprised at your closed-mindedness.

Not only that, I think it's necessary to look at the bigger picture. Oil companies are all about the highest gains for the lowest cost and so why are they venturing into these deeper oil reserves in increasingly contentious locations? It's obvious that we are running out of supplies. It's time to look for alternatives rather than waste money and risk further disaster in the arctic.

(Unregistered) Crushtopher says:

"Why? Because you can't clean up an Arctic oil spill, that's what the experts say"
Which experts? Where do they say it?
In my experience containing an oil spill is the same globally.

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(Unregistered) adam
says:

Nice change of story. First it was 'i'm not leaving until I get hold of the plan', now it's 'or until I get arrested'. Surprise surprise. And regar...

Nice change of story. First it was 'i'm not leaving until I get hold of the plan', now it's 'or until I get arrested'. Surprise surprise. And regarding the icebergs, it's not the Antarctic! The ones in Greenland are small enough to be towed away.
This whole exercise is kind of futile really. Every time Greenpeace get onboard they get arrested. And drilling continues. And you guys knew that would happen, so it's just a juvenile publicity stunt (I note the shameless request for donations). Face it guys, those wells are going to get drilled regardless (which you knew already). If you want to prevent drilling, wouldn't it be best to lobby the Greenlandic government and get them to ban it?